Notre Dame football welcomes the Michigan State Spartans to Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night, where head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish will hope to give Pat Fitzgerald his first loss as the Spartans’ head coach.

Both teams sit at 2-0, and while the product on the field will be what everyone hyperfocuses on with this No. 3-ranked Notre Dame team, the weekend also serves as a huge recruiting opportunity. The Fighting Irish are hosting some of the top 2028 recruiting targets in South Bend, along with one 2029 name and even an early 2030 prospect of mention.

For the full list of recruiting visitors, check out my update from earlier this week. This promises to be the kind of massive recruiting weekend we have gotten used to under coach Freeman’s tenure.

For the ideal outcome, here are some of the top Notre Dame recruiting targets to know who will be on campus, and my wish list for who I hope the Irish move the needle with most this weekend.

Quick note on Xander Edwards

I updated this earlier in the week, but 2028 Jacksonville (Fla.) The Bolles School running back Xander Edwards will not be making the trip to South Bend this weekend. He is the son of former Notre Dame legend Marc Edwards, who played fullback for the team in the 1990s. Edwards will instead take the trip to South Bend on Nov. 7 for the matchup against Miami.

That weekend will be huge for the Fighting Irish, with a long list of impressive players who have already verified they will be making the trip to campus.

That includes Edwards and two of his Bolles School teammates: five-star defensive end Asher Ghioto and top-200 tight end JC Wessel. With Miami recruiting all three players extremely hard, it serves as a huge opportunity for Notre Dame to potentially pull off a couple of upsets at the Bolles School.

OT Wyatt VanBoening is the headliner

One of the top players to know who will be on site for the Michigan State game is 2028 Mundelein (Ill.) Carmel Catholic offensive tackle Wyatt VanBoening. He is rated as the No. 80 overall player, the No. 11 offensive tackle, and the No. 7 player from the state of Illinois according to the 247 Sports Composite ranking.

VanBoening has been a player Notre Dame has been pushing hard for over the last several months, ever since the staff offered him earlier this offseason. At 6-foot-7, 280 pounds, VanBoening fits the profile that offensive line coach Joe Rudolph likes: tall, long, and versatile.

Things are in a great spot with Notre Dame, and there are some who believe the Fighting Irish could potentially close this recruitment out with a huge visit this weekend. VanBoening will be one of the main players you should be looking for updates on after the trip.

LB Jameer Miles visiting alongside VanBoening

VanBoening’s Carmel Catholic teammate, 2028 top-100 linebacker Jameer Miles, will also be making the trip to campus.

Unlike VanBoening, there is some work to do with Miles, who has a high opinion of Notre Dame so far but is not nearly as far along in his recruitment. The 6-foot-3, 192-pound defender is currently pegged as the No. 52 overall player in the class on the composite ranking. Miles plays a lot of safety for Carmel Catholic, and as his body continues to develop, he should be an outstanding athletic linebacker who makes a ton of plays on the second level and in coverage.

This is Notre Dame’s opportunity to impress Miles, who is being pursued by some of the top programs in the country, including Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Penn State, Nebraska, and Indiana, among many others.

DT RJ Wyms could be the weekend’s biggest prize

Perhaps my favorite player making the trip to campus is 2028 The Woodlands (Texas) College Park defensive tackle RJ Wyms. The son of former Mississippi State and longtime NFL defensive tackle Ellis Wyms, the Texas native is a really intriguing interior defensive lineman despite measuring only 6-foot-1, 265 pounds.

That has not stopped all the major recruiting platforms from ranking him inside the top 100 overall players in the class. He possesses incredible leverage and explosiveness, which allowed him to post 25 tackles for loss and six sacks as a sophomore in 2025.

Wyms is being recruited by some heavy hitters, but there is definitely some intrigue around him and Notre Dame. The Irish have a huge opportunity to close on a player whose profile is similar to current Notre Dame defensive tackle Francis Brewu. Seeing Brew live in action should serve as a huge opportunity to impress Wyms in a big way.

Defensive ends Asa Burch and Cam Toomey

A couple of talented defensive ends will be making the trip to campus as well.

Warren (Ohio) Harding defensive end Asa Burch is a 6-foot-5, 225-pound pass rusher who ranks as the No. 127 overall player, the No. 16 edge, and the No. 7 player from the state of Ohio for the 2028 class. Michigan is an early team of interest for Burch, but there is definitely some interest in Notre Dame after he camped and received an offer from the Fighting Irish and defensive line coach Charlie Partridge earlier this offseason.

Notre Dame will also be hosting Cam Toomey, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive end from Saratoga Springs, New York. He is ranked on the composite as the No. 47 overall player and the No. 9 edge in the 2028 class. It’s uncertain just where Notre Dame stands with Toomey, but there’s enough interest to get him to campus.

If Notre Dame lands one of these players in the end, it would be a tremendous recruiting job. Both bring a ton of length and upside to the table.

2029 WR Maddox Porter headlines the underclassmen visitors

The Fighting Irish staff and wide receiver coach Mike Brown will also be hosting the top wide receiver in the 2029 recruiting class, the No. 4 overall player according to 247 Sports, in Nashville (Tenn.) Battleground Academy wide receiver Maddox Porter. The 6-foot-2.5, 190-pound pass catcher is coming off a freshman year in 2025 where he hauled in 78 receptions for 1,547 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Landing Porter will be incredibly difficult for Notre Dame in the end, but getting him on campus for a game this early in his recruitment speaks volumes about the early impact they’ve had. Having a strong wide receiver showing in front of one of the top pass catchers regardless of classification would be huge for coach Freeman and this staff.